A new update to the Raspberry Pi operating system, formerly known as Raspbian, has put open source fans on the sidelines. Because? The new operating system is ping Microsoft servers each time the user updates their applications or the operating system itself.
The brouhaha is a bit stormy in a teapot, because the new operating system only pings the repositories that contain Microsoft’s Visual Studio code editor, a streamlined IDE that has become a formidable tool in the programmer’s arsenal, and presumably a solid educational tool.
That said, open source fans see companies like Microsoft as an anathema (or at least an obstacle) to their work. The same fans successfully fought for the Raspberry Pi Foundation to open its open source graphics driver for its GPU, Broadcom VideoCore chip.
What Microsoft could do with this ping is limited, though Reddit users are concerned that Bing-targeted ads that target Raspberry Pi users may be included.
“People didn’t get a chance to know about the new replacement until it was no longer added to their sources, along with a Microsoft GPG key. Not very transparent to say the least. And in my opinion not how they should have been. to do things in the open source world, “the Reddit user wrote Fortysix_n_2.
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The Raspberry Pi team sees this move as an effort to make the code easier for new users on the platform.
“Thanks everyone, for your feedback, this will not change because it provides the first experience for people who want to use tools like VSCode,” he wrote. Gordon Hollingworth, Director of Software Engineering for Raspberry Pi.
The repositories in question are the databases that the OS uses to keep software versions and updates available. Most repositories are open source and reside on sites like Github, while the Visual Studio Code repository resides on Microsoft servers. Users who want their devices not to be used by the corporate code do not immediately have the ability to disable this reset when installing the Raspberry Pi operating system.
“The more I think about it, the more the element of trust comes out, ”Raspberry Pi CEO Eben Upton told Gizmodo. “It seems that this is a minority of people who have an unrealistic view of how many people they trust when they settle. cap piece of software. It’s not just proprietary software—remember how we all trust that OpenSSL has to be good, because it’s free and widely used and can’t be full of terrible security flaws? It’s ridiculous to suggest that we’re somehow betraying people by choosing to trust Microsoft. “
But some people are interpreting the movement as a betrayal and as a result they are jumping.
“I’m sorry Raspbian but I have to say goodbye to you. No resentments. I wish you all the best and rot in hell, ”one Reddit user wrote Dr0zD.